Report No. 175
3.12 Failure of agencies in checking the menace:-
The Border security Force (BSF), which is primarily responsible for guarding our borders, has not been effective in preventing infiltration across the border. The concerned agencies required to process the cases of alleged illegal migrants encounter numerous difficulties. When police tries to collect evidence, people who are illegal migrants move to another location or disappear.
3.13 The Mobile Task Force, sanctioned by the central Government for States to detect and push the migrants back, is reported to be too meagre to deal with the problem.
3.14 sometime back, the Chief Minister of West Bengal also brought out the issue of continuous infiltration of Bangladeshis into west Bengal and felt that Indira-Mujib Agreement had not been implemented in full. He, however, expressed his reservations with respect to forcible deportation.
3.15 The Foreigners Act, 1946, is the main legislation which governs entry into, and departure of foreigners from, India. The powers to identify, detect and deport illegal migrants residing in various parts of the country have been delegated under this Act to the State Governments and Union territory Administrations. In the State of Assam, detection of such persons, who entered India on or after 25 March 1971, is being done by the tribunals established under the illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 (hereinafter referred to as the IMDT Act). Recently however, the Central Govt. appears to have entertained service doubts regarding the validity of this act on the ground that it has been enforced only in the state of Assam.
3.16 The Central Government has issued instructions to the State Governments and Union territory Administrations to speed up the process of identification and deportation of illegal migrants. It has also taken measures to supplement the efforts of State Governments, such as the strengthening of Border security Force, construction of border roads, fencing and mechanized riverine patrolling, etc. Despite these measures, the problem of illegal migration continues unabated.
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